Amusement device.



W. E. DAVIS.

WILLIAM E. DAVIS, OF NEW IPSWICH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

Application filed February 19, 1915.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. Davis, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of New Ipswich, county of Hillsboro, State of New Hampshire, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Amusement Devices, of which the following is a full and clear specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal sectionof one form of my device; Fig. 3 a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4: a vertical longitudinal section of a modified form of the device.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple device for entertaining and amusement purposes, as more fully hereinafter set forth.

In one form of my device, I employ a bottle-like cylinder a having an internal chamber and asmaller bore or passage c leading from said chamber tothe upper end of the cylinder. The chamber b is closed at its bottom by means of a plug-like bottom member d, through which extends a bore or passage c approximately the same in diameter as the bore c in axial alinement therewith, said plug being provided with a cone j' extending upwardly into the chamber b and thereby forming an annular channel g between it and the wall of the chamber Z). At intervals around the bottom of the channel g are formed window openings t, each provided with a bar or stop c'. A ball 7' is employed, this ball being slightly less in diameter than the passages c and c, and also less in diameter than the bottom of the channel g, so that said ball may pass through the bores c and c and may also roll around in the bottom of the channel g and make its appearance at any one of the windows 7L.

The manner of using this device is as follows: The ball is dropped down through the upper bore c and caused to either pass through the entire device by going down through passage e or retained in the device by striking against the upper end of the cone and falling into the channel g, where it will either appear at one of the windows or will lodge at a point between the same and be invisible, the body of the device being preferably made of opaque material. To cause the ball to pass down through the central passage c will require that the device shall specification of Letters rat-ent.

Patented May 4, MM5.

Serial No. 9,320.

be held in an exactly vertical position, since the slightest deviation from the vertical will cause the ball in traversing the enlarged chamber' l) to swerve sufficiently to strike the rim of the cone and thus be deflected away from passage e. Tests with this device have shown that it requires but a very slight deviation from the vertical to prevent the ball from going on down through passage e, and the shorter the bore c the more difficult it is to direct the ball into the passage e.

To make a game of this device it is simply necessary to give to the central bore ke and the windows suitable values, say 100 points for the bore and l0, 20, etc., for the windows, the larger amount being given for the bore because of the greater skill required to cause the ball to enter the same. Should the ball lodge at a point between the windows, that may be arranged to count zero. To render it still more dilicult to drop the ball throughl the bore c, the bottom of the device may be made slightly convex, as shown, so that the player will have no guide but his own eye to determine whether the device is in a perectly vertical position when hedrops the all.

The above described form of my device is especially intended for use in playing a game. The form of device shown in Fig. l is more especially intended for amusement as a puzzle. In this form of the device, both ends of the cylinder are made exactly alike, so as to be indistinguishable from an cx# terior view, and the windows are omitted. With this device, it will be seen that if the ball be dropped down through the bore c it will be very difficult and in fact almost impossible to cause the ball to enter the passage c, because of the tendency to leave the vertical in passing through the enlarged chamber, but if the device be inverted and the ball dropped through passage e, the ball will to a certainty emerge through the passage c, not only by reason of the guidance it receives by passing through the long bore e, but also the end of the chamber surrounding the inner end of bore c is beveled to assist in directing it through the bore c. It will be seen, therefore, that a player who knows the trick will be able to drop the ball through the device every time and may readily mystify another by handing the device to him in such position that he will naturally insert the ball in bore c.

When a player who understands the trick of the device operates it, he can easily, without observance of the other party, invert the device so that the ball will enter the passage e. The mystification is increased by the fact that no matter which end of the device one peers into, the two bores 0 and@ appear to constitute a single uninterrupted bore extending entirely through the device; vso that no amount of exterior study of the device will give away the trick. The device `is, of course, made of opaque material and care is taken to have both ends of the device alike in appearance.

Having thus described by invention, what I claim is: Y

1. An amusement device consisting of a VKcylindrical body chamber interiorly, a restricted passage entering each end of the cyllnder and arranged 1n allnement axially, the inner end of one of the passages being surrounded by a cone extending into the interior chamber, and a ball of a diameter adapting it to vpass through said passages, for the purpose set forth.

2. An amusement device consisting of a cylindrical body chambered interiorly, a re- Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing theA Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

